Tag: NaNoWrimo

So how did your first day of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) go? Did you hit your word count or naw? For me, it’s “or naw” and here’s why…

Instead of trying to hit a daily word count, I’m adjusting my strategy to a weekly word count. To be exact, approx 2,000 words a week. Want to know why, because I’m a realist. I have too many other roles that I have to stay on top of in life, so I can’t allow myself to be stress out daily that I didn’t hit a goal.

What else am I doing differently? I’ve actually plot planned with notecards to help pull out details surrounding the storyline. I don’t like doing outlines, so this allows me to organically hit the areas I feel like writing about when I want to write about them. It also helps to ensure that I’m always supporting my overall plot.

My NaNoWriMo goal is to knock out three chapters for my book focused on my childhood in St. Louis.

I’d be lying if I said I’ve been focused thus far for NaNoWriMo 2017. I was supposed to give you guys my weekly update, starting with week one last week, but I was disappointed at my lack of dedication and focus. And the worst part is that I have no idea why I’m so lackadaisical. I literally have had time but my mind won’t function properly. Or maybe my fingers don’t feel like typing. I have no clue but plenty of excuses as you can see.

So I’m forcing this post out because it’s time for a change. After listening to Gary V. keeping it 110% this morning on The Breakfast Club, I’ve got to file away these million-and-one excuses and get back to my passionate grind.

Let me summarize what Gary said:
Stop looking at others and thinking they are lucky to be where they are. Refocus that attention on applauding their plight, shifting to positive energy and see if that energy reflects back on you. You may have to cut out some important people in your life – his example was your mother – that may be holding you back. They probably don’t even know that they are doing so with their contradictory or deconstructive language, so you must take it upon yourself to leave them where they need to be for you to succeed. Lastly (but not really because he dropped so much more knowledge that you’ll have to tune in for the dets), if you’re not loving what you are doing, you will not be successful at doing it. If you are not willing to get your hands dirty, stand outside in the rain or snow for eight hours to get what you need, stay late night after night, make sacrifices that others aren’t willing to make, then you WILL NOT succeed.

That’s it folks. #RealTalk. A true wake-up call for me. I love writing. I’m exhausted from life’s up and downs, but damnit, I can’t stop. You can’t stop. Keep forcing yourself to push through the dark or slow times. You have one lifetime to shine your extraordinary light. Let’s do it together.

With passion,
DNC

FYI, word-count for this month is only 700 but at least I’m writing something. What are you doing? #challengeyourself #writethroughitall